//------------------------------//
// Well Shit 
// Story: Special Delivery 
// by Willow Arqueiro 
//------------------------------//

     Dash opened her eyes slowly, seeing  nothing but blur. Dash heard muted voices but could not hear them over the high ringing in her ears. She felt the restraining straps hold her down and groped with her hands blindly, having to fight to keep them down. Her hands connected with the flight stick and she grabbed it, desperate for anything to anchor herself too. 
       She worked her foggy brain, trying to recall what was going on. The Migs flashed in her brain and she jammed the stick sideways, trying to avoid the memory planes. 
       Her vision cleared a little farther and the console cleared up for her eyes. She jabbed at the console, trying to figure out why all the screens were cracked and ruined. 
       Her vision cleared some more and she saw the broken cockpit hatch and beyond that a green and brown blur. 
       Dash shook her head violently and recoiled in shock as she saw the ground above her. What the hell?! She tought to her self. Where am I? Is a better question. 
      The memory of her crash landing hit her like, well, like a crashing plane. She jerked in her chair and the ringing started to fade in her ears allowing her to hear the panicked voices over the radio. Two stood out the most. 
        "RainbowDash! Are you all right?! Please respond!!" yelled a ThunderLane. 
       "Evelyn! Where are you! Are you alright! Are you still with your crash site!! Don't worry, I'm coming that way!" came 1st Lieutenant Armor. 
       She groaned and looked up, seeing the cockpit hatch all but gone. Dash glance to each side, only one way out. 
She hit the restraint release and dropped the six feet to the ground face first. Dash tucked her head down and rolled slightly to land on her back where she laid, staring blankly up at the ruined cockpit. 
      She still had her helmet on and adjusted the badly bent mic over her lips. "This is Captain Dash, I've been downed. Repeat, I am on the ground in one piece, with most of my plane." she got out. 
       "Captain Dash, any psychical damage?" asked Celestia, the only one who was staying calm. 
       Dash grunted and stood up, only to have her left lower leg spike with enormous pain and she fell down again.
             "Celestia, this is Dash, I have a lower leg injury. Do not know the extent of it." She said through the pain. 
         "Roger Dash, can you move?" 
         "Is it necessary?" she asked, fearing bad news. 
        "Correct Dash. We are seeing twenty plus foot mobiles approaching your position."
      "Shit!" she muttered and stood again, keeping weight of her left leg. She reached into the cockpit and tried the ejector seat again, needing to get under the chair for her survival pack. With no roar or launch, the chair just fell out making Dash more frustrated. "That's why the fucking chair didn't work! The bastard shot up my ejector system, but how did they miss me?" she shrugged, not really wanting to know the answer. 
      Dash grabbed her survival pack and opened it, doing a quick check. She pulled out her Glock and set it down, reaching in again she grabbed the extra mags and put those in her pockets. 
      She picked up the Glock and looked around, wondering which direction the enemy was coming from. She plugged her helmet mic into the survival radio. 
    "Marine Recon force, I am on the move." she called. 
    "Negative Captain, stay put, we're coming to you." said Armor. 
      "Sorry, Lieutenant, I apparently have enemies closing in on my position." she said, then added to herself, "but where are they going to be comin from?"
       A sudden rustle came from the undergrowth in the trees. Dash saw a movement and raised the pistol, and fired. The shape jumped and fell, and with that, Dash took off as fast as her injured leg would carry her, heading for the other side of the field where the Marine position was supposed to be. 
      The ground jumped and danced in front of her as bullets narrowly missed her. She stole a glance over her shoulder and saw them, seeming to swarm over the crash site. She picked up the pace. 
      She hobbled faster, heading for the rock outcropping that had flipped her plane. She looked behind her and saw them start to shout and point at her, and a few raised rifles. They started firing and Dash dove behind a small ridge, holding her arms over her helmet. 
     The gun fire stopped briefly as they reloaded and Dash took of, spotting the outcrop. She sprinted for it, hearing crashing and swearing from the enemy. Dash dove dehing the rock as bullets started chipping away at it. 
      A brief pause that Dash took, jumping up and firing her Glock, hitting two of them. She ducked back down and put her back to the rock, thinking. She stole a glance over the rock and saw them moving towards her. She emptied the rest of the mag, making them hesitate. Despaired, Dash reloaded, knowing that the small pistol was next to useless. She leaned back and looked up hill smiling to herself. 
     "Here I am, hiding behind the same FUCKING ROCK that had trashed my plane." she said, chuckling. 
      She whipped her head up as she heard new gunfire, but not from behind her, but in front of her. She looked around, trying to place it and looked up the hill. 
     Two figures were charging towards her, assault rifles blazing at the enemy. She grinned as she recognized that the men coming towards her were Marines. 
        They tore towards her as bullets jumped around them, seeming to hit everything but them. 
         The men were wearing normal BDU's and had helmets on with face coverings. They practically ran into the rock Dash was at. 
     "Beat cha, sir." said one, a big burly man that was twice the size of Dash. 
      "Than you win a beer," said the other. 
       "Um, hello?" asked Dash, looking at the one who lost.
        He yanked down the face covering and smiled. "Got a little cocky there didn't you?" said Armor. He was in his element, recklessly charging in battle while effectively doing his job. 
      "Armor? What are you doing here?" asked Dash.  
      His smile faded, "I couldn't just stand by and let a fellow Marine die could I?" 
      Dash looked away, disappointed that he had come for a Marine, not her...
     "Anyway, we got to get back quickly or this places is toast," he looked at the other man. "Sergeant Spike, do you think you can carry her while we run?" 
      Spike sized her up, "She's but a featherweight, I could carry her all day,"
      "Alright than, let's roll," said Armor. He ran up the hill and went prone, attracting attention as he fired.  
     Spike gently scooped up Dash, careful to avoid jarring her injured leg, and started running uphill. Armor saw them run past and raised a thumbs up and fired some more to keep the enemy from doing anything. Spike ran to the top of the hill, not even winded after the sprint carrying her. He put her down and dropped down beside her and started firing. Armor looked up and saw them safe then started charging up the hill, darting from left to right occasionally. 
    He crested over the hill and dropped down, firing before he hit the ground. 
     "We need to get back to the strong point!" said Spike. 
      "Dash, go!" yelled Armor. 
       Dash ran as fast as she could in the direction Armor pointed in. The sounds of gunfire slowly fading. Stumbled to a stop, wondering where she needed to go. She reached the small clump of trees, seemingly the only logical place to hole up in, so Dash headed inside. She stumbled around, hoping someone would call out to her. 
     She walked forward and stumbled over a raised  tree root, falling down and rolling down the slight incline. She stopped suddenly and Dash wished she had slid her visor over her face which was now lying in the soft leaves. She groaned and raised her head, looking directly into the face of Armor's sister Twilight.